


Big Brother Knuckles

by Codeluluchan



Series: Big Brother Knuckles [1]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: 5+1 Things, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2020-01-14 15:19:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18478927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Codeluluchan/pseuds/Codeluluchan
Summary: 5 times Knuckles was like a brother to Sonic, but how does Sonic see Knuckles?This is entirely platonic, but as in the tags there is Sonadow,





	1. When He Needs to Slow Down

**Author's Note:**

> So after over half a year of bingeing Sonic content I'm finally posting one of the hundreds of stories I have written for it. I apologize for any inaccuracies or OOC moments, I have only had a handful of months to catch up on almost 30 years of story and lore. And considering it's not very straight forward with multiple different renditions I've mostly taken to piecing together plot points that interest me, with some personal headcannons mixed in. Hope this turns out well and who knows, if I manage a decent I might post others I don't know.

Knuckles released a withering sigh when a blue streak zips past him for the seventh time in under a minute. “Sonic you’ve been at it all morning, I think you can stop” at his suggestion, the streak takes a sharp turn towards him, stopping right in front of him with a gust of wind. Standing in front of him now was the same blue hedgehog, green eyes   
wide looking up at him with his foot tapping impatiently.

“But Knux, it’s Tails birthday! It has to be perfect after the awesome party you guys threw for me, and who best to do it than his best bro?” he queries, posing in a shaky attempt at a confident stance. Knuckles could see through it, taking in the small bags that were growing under his eyes he knew the hero was going of momentum and nothing else.

“Yeah, and I’m pretty sure he’d rather you not be dead on your feet when he gets here” the echidna argued. He looked out at the work Sonic had completed already, tables, chairs, balloons, party games, and a large colorful banner with “Happy Birthday Tails” in bold print meticulously setup around an open field. “Everything looks great hedgehog, you need to take a break” he adds.

“Pbfft, I’m fine, the fastest thing alive doesn’t slow down” he boasts. Knuckles rolls his eyes, grabbing Sonic’s wrist as he fell to the ground to drag the speedster down as well.

“No” he snaps before the hero could protest “just shut up and at least SIT for two minutes, that’s all I ask you to do. Then you can run till you keel over for all I care, got me?” with a grumble Sonic complies, adjusting himself so he is leaning back staring up into the sky. Relieved at his compliance, Knuckles leans back and relaxes his muscles.

Honestly, how Tails manages to real in his adopted brothers' sporadic behavior without growing wrinkles is a mystery. Though considering the guy has been running after and from an evil scientist he supposed consistent movement and change came naturally. Thankfully the blue blur had plenty who are willing to tie him down once in a while. ‘including a certain bat and the Ultimate goth’. A light snore tears him from his musings, drawing his eyes to the already fast asleep hedgie, mouth slightly agape with drool threatening to slip out onto the grass.

“Doesn’t slow down my butt.” He stands, making sure to not disturb his friends sleep, to check the food. The guests weren’t expected to arrive for at least another half hour, but he knew if anything went wrong he would hear it from Sonic. The first to arrive was Rouge, dragging a begrudging Shadow behind her.

“Hey Knuckie” she greets sweetly.

“I don’t have the Master Emerald, and it’s hidden where you won’t find it by the time I get to the island.”

“Now that’s just mean, I am clearly here for Tail’s party,” she says with a pout. Knuckles goes to object but was cut off.

“What’s wrong with him?” Shadow was looking towards where the echidna had left the blue hero.

“He’s been zipping all around the place for hours, don’t wake him up yet” Shadow doesn’t reply, instead making his way to stand against a shaded tree. After a while, when more guests came around, the commotion rouses the snoozing hedgehog.

“Wha…The heck! Knuckles, why didn’t you wake me up?! Did I miss-“

“Chill, Vanilla will be bringing Tails around in about ten minutes, go race Shadow or something until then.” The blur pouts at his tone, turning with a huff in search of the mentioned lifeform.

“Yo Faker!” the echidna chuckles, yeah, he can be such a kid sometimes.


	2. When He Falls Ill

“How has someone so STUPID become the ‘Hero of Mobius’?” the echidna growls rhetorically. He glares down at the red line of the thermometer which had risen near the 100 mark, then shifts his violet gaze to the red-faced hedgehog.

“Knux, it’s just a cold” he grumbles, wrapping the blanket tighter around himself when another shiver wracks his aching body.

“You don’t GET colds hedgehog, your chaos practically burns away the virus before it sets in. You know unless you play around with Chaos Control in the middle of a freezing lake” he added with derision. Sonic grumbles about not meaning to end up in the Holoskan sea but is ignored in favor of his brothers presence.

“And because of that your body never gained an immunity towards it, which is why you’re feeling it so much worse right now” Tails chimes in. He approaches the couch with a brownish red bottle and some water. “Thanks for coming over Knuckles, I couldn’t leave him alone while I got the medicine.”

“Don’t worry about it, I may not get the techy medical stuff but I can manage a bowl of soup.”

“Sure you can, I’m surprised you didn’t burn down the house yet, please don’t poison me” Sonic begs playfully.

“Dude, I’ve lived in isolation from society since I was a puggle, I kind of needed to know my way around a pot.”

“Uh huh, I bet you couldn’t even make a chili dog” he challenges, looking to Knuckles expectantly.

“I probably could Mr. Subtle as a brick to the face, don’t do stupid stuff and you can eat whatever you want.”

“I wasn’t stupid I was practicing, and Shadow was there to make sure I didn’t go too far.”

“Well, he didn’t stop you soon enough apparently, now look at you.”

“Oh whatever MOM.”

“Take your medicine young man.” They fell into a light banter, Knuckles helping Tails take care of the hero until he fell asleep on the couch. As he heads towards the door, there is a flash of red at the window, but whatever causes it is already gone by the time he exits the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, the whole not getting sick thing is not necessarily a headcannon I'll live and die by but it seems plausible and appropriate for this story.


	3. When He Has Something to Admit

Sonic is always cocky and self-assured, with a tendency to make Knuckles become exasperated with his lack of self-awareness. So when Sonic is now standing in front of him and the Master Emerald, ears twitching, eyes flitting to everything but him, and foot tapping with nervous energy, he knew it was something pretty serious. Did that stop him from taking some jabs at his situation? “What’s got you so jumpy? Are they banning chili dogs or something? Or is your ego bruised cause Shadow beat you in a race?” Hey, Sonic never hesitated to mock him, it’s only fair. It seemed to have given Sonic a distraction from his anxiety, green eyes narrowing seriously at his suggestion.

“Shut your mouth, chili dogs are a national treasure, and the day Faker beats me without cheating is the day I hang up my shoes and grow a mustache.” Knuckles chuckles at his immediate response, earning him a swift punch to the shoulder. 

“Fine, then what’s goin on with you hedgehog?” Knuckles reminder has Sonic’s back straightening, his body stiff once more.

“So…uh, just curious, what do you think of… that is to say, have you..err.”

“If you’re going to tell me to shut up you gotta back it up and talk” he commands impatiently.

“Fine! Are you okay with gay people?” he snaps, crossing his arms across his chest, shoulders slouching forward.

“Yeah” the echidna immediately answers, confused on where this was leading.

“Wha- really? Just like that?”

“Yeah, I mean I’m not gay but to each their own, why? Do you?” Knuckles never thought Sonic to be the type to dislike someone for such a reason, and even then it still didn’t solve why he would discuss this with him out of nowhere.

“No, it’s actually… I wanted to make sure with you, ‘cause… I think I’m gay, and it would suck if I told you and you socked me so yeah.” 

“Huh” was all he could say at first, considering what he had just heard “you’re not telling me this ‘cause you were gonna confess you liked me were you?” He winced when he realized how harshly that came out, not wanting to hurt his friends’ feelings.

“No no, don’t worry, I’m pretty sure Rouge already has dibs.”

“What!? She can’t…I’m not….ugh never mind, anyway cool, I’m flattered you’d tell me, who else did you tell?”

“No one, you’re the first person I told.”

“Really? What about Tails?”

“Not yet, it’s not that I don’t trust him, I just… I don’t know. This situation is just weird, and of anyone I felt like I wanted to see how you would react first,” the guardian couldn’t help finding the sentiment more than a little touching. 

“Don’t worry, you’re still the same blue annoyance, I’ll just have new teasing material.”

“Oh real nice, hey when are you gonna finally confess you like Rouge?”

“I do not like that batty woman!”

“Sure you don’t.”

“Well, what about you? Who’s the lucky guy?”

“There is no guy, why do you think there’s already a guy?”

“Well isn’t that how you find out you’re gay? You find out you like someone?”

“Maybe? A guy did help me realize it but I didn’t really feel that way for him.”

“Who did that?”

“No one you know.”

“Meaning I clearly know them.”

“No, you don’t know them.”

“I will find out.”

“I regret this already.”

“You regret nothing and you know it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So for this story I did write a number of side stories that tie into this one, including Sonic finding out he's gay. I might post those too when I'm done here but we'll see.


	4. When He Has an Admirer

Knuckles is not stupid, not all the time…okay, maybe he’s not all that clever either but dangit he knows SOME things. Like the fact that a certain brooding hedgehog is pursuing his hero friend……he may have heard something from Rouge, but he would have figured it out on his own. Shadow may be all scowling and intense but there has to be a reason he always picks fights with Sonic, calls him nicknames like “Faker” and…and…maybe Rouge was just blowing smoke.

It’s really hard to imagine the former enemy feeling anything as tender as…love? Maybe, but despite Rouges insistence on teasing him whenever such topics came up, Knuckles doesn’t think the bat had any reason to lie about this. Well, only one way to find out. ‘Rouge if this was a trick and I embarrass myself I’ll use your wings for Halloween decorations.’ He makes it to Club Rouge where said owner had told him the Ultimate Lifeform frequented. Entering the dimmed room he didn’t take long to spot familiar red streaks sat at the bar and makes his way over.

“Shadow!” he calls out, tone slightly rougher than necessary. Shadow turns his head mid drink, his face forms a scowl as he set the glass back down.

“What are you doing here Echidna? Never figured this was your scene unless you’re here for Rouge in which case you’re out of luck.”

“I’m not here for that batty woman! I wanted to discuss somethin with you” he growls, Shadow raises an eye ridge.

“What could WE have anything to discuss?”

“It’s about Sonic” this, he notices, drew the others attention if the light twitch of his ears and his gaze going from disinterest to zeroing in on him. Like he said, he knew some things.

“What did he do?”

“Nothing, well not yet at least” Shadow’s posture relaxed at the answer, but Knuckles wasn’t done. He sets himself on the barstool beside him, making sure he was eye level with the ruby glare. “I’m not gonna dance around this, are you interested in Sonic?”

“I imagine many find a blue hedgehog that breaks the sound barrier intriguing.”

“Don’t give me that, I think you know what I’m talking about. And if you don’t, well, you may not be all that ‘Ultimate’ as you claim” the challenge to his pride worked, an animalistic growl vibrating the biohog.

“If I am? Are you here to tell me to stay away from him or some nonsense?”

“What if I did? Would you do it?”

“I would tell you not to bother, you’ve nothing to worry, I won’t taint your precious hero” he scoffs, Knuckles smirks crossing his arms in victory.

“Never thought I could influence the great Shadow the Hedgehog.”

“Believe what you will Guardian, I came to my own conclusions” he informs, then under his breath adds “I am not needed in his life.” He downs the rest of his drink and signaled the bartender for another.

“Yet you two always hang out” Knuckles points out.

“By his insistence I assure you.”

“So what makes you think you can avoid him then? By now you know he’s a stubborn little shit.”

“Were you not just making a pathetic attempt at intimidating me to keep me away from him?”

“No, you ASSUMED that, all I asked was if you were into him. Though if your head went there I guess I got my answer eh?” Shadow growled in frustration, and Knuckles could swear he saw a tinge of pink at the tips of his ears. He decided not to anger him further with it but the guardian definitely felt a bit of pride at knocking down the hedgehogs' ego if just a small bit.

“If you have your answer then you have no more need to bother me.”

“I do have one, and I think you need to hear it now more than ever” he leans in and spoke with a low warning tone. “Don’t you dare hurt him, and between you and me, ditching him won’t end well so get over whatever pity party you’re throwing for yourself. Ultimate Lifeform or no, I won’t hesitate to use you for practice in an ancient sacrificial ritual.”

“Interesting how arrogant you are to think you could fulfill such a promise.”

“Takes one to know one asshole!” not wanting to tick off Rouge for starting a fight in her business he turned to leave.

“One last thing guardian.”

“WHAT?!”

“Let Rouge know if she was going for subtle, she should have gone for the fox at the very least.” His message has him confused, but he was too miffed to read more into it as he left.


	5. When He Has a Date

Glaring at the clock, tapping his foot impatiently as the hands hover near the very top. Knuckles was sat on Sonic and Tails couch waiting for the former to return home. He was called upon to keep an eye on the place while Sonic goes on his first date with Shadow. Not because the younger needed supervision, more so in case an invention of Tails blows up or just overall to keep his friend from rushing home during his outing. The Guardian is starting to severely regret his part in getting the edgy hedgy to pursue Sonic. 

‘It’s almost midnight. I swear if he does anything funny-‘ his thoughts were halted when he caught sight of the telltale flash of a Chaos Control. Careful not to be seen he stalks over to the window to peek outside, seeing the two hedgehogs a few feet from the house in a sweet embrace. With their position, he could only see Shadow’s face nuzzled against blue quills and is surprised by how his smirk was not devious or mocking, but relaxed and tender. 

A dark eyelid cracks open, meeting his gaze for a moment before he pulls away, whispering into Sonics ear. Sonic turns his head with a chuckle, leaning on his toes to peck a tanned cheek. Shadow, in turn, pulls him in to kiss full on the lips, and Knuckles decided then to look away and sit on the couch, feeling that he understood the guardian could and would jump out if he went too far. Moments pass and Sonic finally steps inside the house with a dazed expression.

“So it went well?” Knuckles asks conversationally.

“Yeah Knux, really well, thanks for watchin the house” he goes towards the steps avoiding eye contact.

“Nuh uh, come on you were gone all night, there’s gotta be something to share.”

“We hung out, we ate, and we raced, happy?”

“No, quite being vague and just give me a straight answer, oh wait-OW!” he rubs his arm where Sonic had roundhouse kicked him. He may not have as much upper body strength than him but he certainly had some muscular legs.

“You’re not funny, or original. And sorry we’re so boring but there’s nothing much to add” he informs, his cheeks red in embarrassment. The echidna scans his tense body features in suspicion.

“He didn’t…TRY anything did he?” 

“What? Try wha-“ he halts immediately, eyes wide and frozen in place “NO! We didn’t….I wasn’t….NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS SHUT UP!” Relieved to know Sonic wasn’t pushed into such an intimate act, Knuckles allowed himself to laugh at his flustered stammering.

“Well, as long as he keeps his paws to himself when you tell him.”

“Please, just stop” he begs, burying his head in his hands. The guardian shrugs turning to leave “but…thank you….for worrying about me.”

“Nah, I ain’t worried about you, I know you can kick his ass back to the moon” he denies, not turning to look at his friend.

“Right, definitely” Knuckles nods, going to leave but a final thought occurred.

“By the way, what was he whispering to you?” Sonic thought on the question, laughing once again when he recalled what he was talking about.

“He was just commenting on my ‘loyal but annoying guard dogs.”

“You don’t have pets.”

“No, but I did have some eyes watching us VERY closely, didn’t I” he hints with a wink.

“Oh bite me, goodnight” he finally shuts the door on the chuckling hedgehog making his way to Angel Island. He wasn’t too keen on being referred to as a dog, but at least the darker hedgehog seemed to have shown Sonic a good time. ‘Wait, did he say guard dog’s, plural? Must have misheard him.’


	6. When His Family Grows

‘This seems familiar’ Knuckles thought as he watches a, once again, fidgeting hedgehog before him. “Sonic, if you're coming out of the closet again, I’m sorry to break it to you that being engaged to a guy pretty much confirms it.” Yup, a few months ago Shadow decided to make him and Sonic a permanent thing in front of all their friends, a daring feat for the reclusive individual.

“I hate you so much sometimes, you know that?” said runner growls.

“No you don’t, so spill” chaos he had de ja vu, thankfully Sonic isn’t AS anxious as last time.

“So the wedding is in like a month, and me and Shadow were talking” he starts, taking in a deep breath. “Would you officiate it for us?” Knuckles tenses, shocked at the request. Officiating a wedding is a pretty big deal to Mobians, you didn’t just ask a random friend or family member to do it. The couple traditionally chooses someone of esteem to them, someone whose approval they valued most. To be honest he had wondered who they would choose for a while, as both hedgehogs list of close friends was limited, though he never guessed this. He ran through his mind all the reasons, unable to filter his confusion as he spoke.

“Why, uhm…did…is it because I’m the Guardian of the Master Emerald?” was his first query.

“No! No, it’s….you’ll laugh” Sonic warns bashfully.

“I promise I won’t” he swears “this is serious, I know that that’s why I want to make sure you chose someone…appropriate.”

“Knuckles, that’s WHY I chose you. This is gonna sound kinda corny, but you’ve always been like a brother for me like I am for Tails. Before him I never really had a family, then after him, I had a responsibility to protect him. I don’t regret it but then we met you, and though things didn’t start out the smoothest, I knew you’d always have my back. I never wanted to admit it, but you mean a lot to me, even if I love Shadow, you and Tails are like my family, and I want you apart of it when it grows.”

The echidna was having a hard time ignoring the heat behind his eyes, and it took great effort to keep a neutral façade. In an effort to release the building emotion, he turned to a large stone, and smashes his fist into it, breaking it into rubble and simultaneously causing his friend to leap back in concern. Now calmed down, he turns back to see Sonic had started to curl in on himself subtly, ears pinned back and eyes looking to the ground. He realized that to the hero this didn’t look good and he now started doubting himself. Taking action he pulled him in a firm and secure embrace.

“Sonic, I haven’t really known family since I lost my tribe, but I will always put you and Tails happiness first” he vows, pushing away enough to look into misty emerald eyes. “I am honored to officiate your wedding, and I think Shadow would be a good fit for our weird family.” Sonic beams, leaping towards him for another hug out of relief, which Knuckles returns with a smile. “But I’ll still kill him if he doesn’t treat you right.”

“Oh don’t worry, Tails already let him know he’s got a few of his more violent inventions to think about if anything happens.”

“Oh, so fox boy gets him nervous, but I threaten him and he just gives me a message for Rouge?” he growls in irritation. Sonic cocks his head, confused at his outburst but then gives up puzzling it out.

“You know what, let’s just celebrate, Shadows waiting for the all clear back at the house” with a smile Knuckles pulls him in to give an affectionate noogie.

“You got it, let's get goin.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there is the last chapter, there are other snippet parts I have written so if people are interested I'll post them and put all this together as a series. Thank you for giving this story a try either way, hope you all have a nice day regardless of when you read this, and thank you for being your nerdy selves for your fandoms.


End file.
